Category: Work

I know they say it’s important for resumes, but I’ve never hired personnel. However now that I am working client side, I can definitely say that grammatical mistakes do count, especially for formal deliverables.

I’m all about throwing messy hand sketches with wild scribbles during the development process – even the email typed up in haste – but official submittals with little mistakes scream out a lack of pride and craft. 

Obviously the big issues matter the most, but when big errors (some of which may be understandable) are compounded with minor sloppiness, it starts to leave a bad taste.

If they can’t get the little things right, should I really be that confident about the big things?

I knew these few weeks would be a bit heavy, but it’s one thing to rationally expect it and another to go through with it.

I’ve been coping with the help of coffee, which is a pretty standard way of handling things in this world.

But I’m hyper-sensitive to caffeine.

So I’m up early, much too early.

At least I’m gonna schedule this post, and then I’ll do my blood pressure, and then I’ll practice the form for a moment. Only then will I go and do some work at home.

I could just jump straight into work, but I’m learning that I gotta slow down enough to exercise a bit.

This body is growing older one way or the other. It’s not waiting for work to slow down.

Sometimes you gotta just crank for the deadline, but I think the best long term play for one’s career is to ask genuinely curious questions.

The more you understand, the better you can work with your team and distill information for the decision makers above you.

And the best way to get there is to ask.

I’ve often told consultants or vendors, talk to me like a fifth grader. Teach me the premise of the problem so I can wrap my head around the problem cogently.

Of course, sometimes you have to get all the real experts in the room to resolve an issue. But it helps to have a good sense of when its necessary to push the big red button.

Such an instinct is developed over a long period of time, adding knowledge day by day, taking advantage of the many learning opportunities along the way.

The image of the iron fist in a velvet glove is a powerful one.

A simple dichotomy in a clear concise image.

A snapshot of careful politeness but a firm will.

But is it a good one to keep in mind?

Is it misplaced machismo hidden in a genteel setting?

Is this worldview too binary?

If not this frame, then what?

In order to have a little breathing room for my other projects, I had to hand off some work to a colleague who graciously took it on.

Even though this bought me the space to really make sure all my other projects are on track, it has still been difficult to let this my direct control.

The basic transaction has been trusting my colleague on one task so I can avoid being mediocre on all projects.

Rationally this makes perfect sense, but it’s easier said than done.

Assuming we got from 18-65 to work out our careers, one could break it up into eleven year quarters, 18-29, 30-41, 42-53, 54-65.

But I wonder if that makes the most sense. Unlike a ball game, the early actions have a inordinately strong effect on the latter opportunities – in football, your options certainly become constrained as a game progresses, but they were always a fairly limited set anyways.

Maybe the big difference between a ball game and a career is that of scope creep over over time. A touchdown will always net you six to eight points, but the expected value of any given career shift generally rises as you gain experience in the profession. Balancing such bountiful gains are all those other demands on your time as the family begins to blossom.

Since I’m only nearing the end of the first half and just starting the whole family thing, I most likely should avoid too much conjecture. But it’s an interesting thought. You only get a few shots at within career, it most likely makes sense to make it count especially as you round into the second half.

It’s paranoia inducing, but every interaction is partially an interview for the next opportunity.

The best way to succeed is to carefully be yourself.

Hopefully you’ve prepped properly.

You could always start now.

I’ve been on one deadline after another for the past couple months, so its been a bit busy and stressful.

Technically, I should still be on deadline, but one of my colleagues rescued me and offered to review my last set of plans for a large project on Monday.

It’s taken me three days to slow down enough to be able to start thinking about my projects and what needs to be done for each of them on a holistic level.

Even yesterday, I’ve been in task mode, looking around to do anything that can be easily accomplished. That might be the correct adrenaline rush to get everything done before a deadline, but it’s not the right mindset to work a long term project.

A lot of people say they just need that first opportunity. However, most of them will not excel once they get it, after all, about half of them will be below average.

In this modern information age, a lot of gatekeepers have become less relevant. However, this profession is not one of them. First job, next gig, first promotion, partnership, first project with a desired client. Gatekeepers abound.

So you caught your break. Celebrate, yes. Now what? And tomorrow, and the day after that? How do we avoid taking things for granted and continue to excel?

When a meeting doesn’t result in a decision it means there wasn’t enough preparation conducted by one or more parties.

That’s not always bad, sometimes its better to have two short meetings instead of one overwrought session.

But if multiple people are gonna spend their time knocking their heads on a subject, it should come up with some results.

At the very least, we should come out with a clear goal for what needs to be studied before the next meeting and a gameplan for getting to a resolution.